Of the 620 employers surveyed, the majority (81%) do not expect changes in hiring outlooks, with 8% anticipating an improvement and 5% projecting a deterioration, shows the survey released on Tuesday.

"The Slovenian labour market is quite stable," the head of Manpower Group Slovenija, Rudi Čebulj, said at today's press conference in Ljubljana.

An increase in hiring is expected in eight out of ten industries.

The most optimistic employment forecast comes from manufacturing. "Manufacturing companies are the engine of the entire economy. If they are doing well - Slovenia being an export-oriented economy - this is also good for employers associated with manufacturing," Čebulj said.

A proof of this is the fact that the second most optimistic employment forecast comes from transport, logistics, and communication.

The weakest outlook has meanwhile been recorded in construction, where the biggest drop in hiring possibilities was recorded both in quarterly and annual comparisons. Čebulj attributes this to the winter season ahead.

Hiring should increase in all four Slovenian regions included in the survey, most notably in the south-eastern region, where net employment forecast - the difference between the share of companies that plan to hire and the share of companies expecting layoffs - is to go up by 9%.

This is the strongest outlook for the region since the launch of the survey in the first quarter of 2011. Compared to the previous quarter, the hiring outlook improved by four percentage points and by three points compared to the same period last year.

The outlook for the central and north-eastern regions is stable, while employing in the south-western is expected to be modest. "The third quarter is very strong in the south-western region because of tourism, so a drop in hiring is expected in the final quarter," Čebolj explained.

The most optimistic are big companies, whose net employment forecast is up 13%, followed by small companies (+9%), while middle-sized and micro companies expect net employment of 6%.